My Story
Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to a Puerto Rican mother and an English father, I attended and graduated from the Allentown School District. Shortly after being accepted to Lehigh University, I found a second home with the Community Service Office. Through my work with the CSO, I was introduced to the wonderful and warm South Bethlehem community, a community that shares much with my neighboring hometown, Allentown. As I stayed on for a fifth-year in the Master of Education program, I worked as the graduate assistant in charge of the America Reads America Counts after-school and in-school tutoring programs. During this time, I also completed my pre-professional and student teaching internships at middle and high schools within the Lehigh Valley.
After graduating from Lehigh, I was hired as a Community School Coordinator with the Boys and Girls Club of Allentown at Cleveland Elementary School. Eventually, I would also serve as the site director of Lehigh Carbon Community College’s (LCCC) Donley Center in downtown Allentown. In both positions, I was able to learn from and with local Latinx community members about the structural challenges many faced in pursuing education. Importantly, I reflected on how, as a White woman with an English last name, my educational experiences and access were vastly different from many in my own Latinx community, including many of my family members.
Interested in studying Latinx educational inequities within an interdisicplinary and transnational context, I started a Masters program in Latin American Studies at the University of Florida (UF) in 2017, with a specialization in Latinx Studies and Migration and Transnational Studies. After completing this terminal Masters program, I decided to remain at UF to pursue a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Critical Studies of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture. Due to support from fellowships with the UF Center for Humanities and the Public Sphere as well as the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College CUNY, I was fortunate to be able to return home to conduct my dissertation research with Allentown Latinx community members and educational advocates.
Currently, I am a full-time lecturer at the Marsal Family School of Education at the University of Michigan. Additionally, I serve as the Project Coordinator for the Spencer Grant-funded, Cultivating Community Together (CCT) Research Project at Swarthmore College. I am also expanding my research and advocacy work through independent research projects with community-based organizations, such as the YWCA Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.
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Teaching & Mentoring Philosophy
In all of my instructional, supervisory, and mentoring relationships, I consider how I can center marginalized voices, build a sense of community, and create multiple formats for participation. I make an effort to include diverse perspectives and histories, scaffold tasks with templates and regular feedback, structure evaluations based on growth rather than perfection, offer choice, facilitate small learning communities and peer learning, and encourage shared ownership in initiatives. These strategies promote the success of students, employees, and team members across backgrounds while modeling engaging and equitable teaching practices.
As a first-generation college graduate, my pedagogy is intentional in cultivating inclusion, liberation, and critical perspectives.